Month of Moving

Well, the moving is in full force.

We will be moving out of our house in the latter part of the week.  The specific day is still to be determined by a few different factors, but more on that later. 

I spent the end of May and most of June in a slight (or not so slight) panic, because there was so much to be done.  We were swamped with the paperwork and to do's of starting our life in London, while still living our life here, and completely physically and mentally exhausted.  So around the house, we were getting NOTHING done.  

We had energy explosion from this one,

and the constant cleanup from this one.

By the end of the day, Chris and I were both completely spent.

There was a week where we had been looking at houses in London, and every single day I said to Chris, "After the kids go to bed, we need to sit down and make a list to help us in this housing search, of non-negotiables, niceties, areas, etc."  Every night, neither one of us could do it.

Then July came, and the help that we had been waiting for descended upon us.

In 21 out of the last 23 days, 7 different people came to help us.  Lovely, wonderful, helpful helpers.

Justin drove 10 hours, was only here for 1 full day, but helped me haul tons of things from the basement, talked me down about if I wanted/how to sell them, staged them for me to get pictures, and moved them into the garage.  Then he and Chris took a full truck load to Goodwill and another full truckload to a dumpster.

Patsy came and played tirelessly with one or both kids while Chris tried to finished up work at the office and I sorted through and packed up the kitchen.  She took Jayce for a few outings, made dinner, and even let Chris and I get away for a movie, the first in forever, and it didn't even matter that it was an incredibly stupid one.

Chandra came while Chris and Jayce were away, and helped me sort through my craft room, one of the trickiest to pack up, took down and packed up the decor, the kids' rooms, cooked yummy goodies, loved and played with Hannah, and basically gave me 4 days of free therapy over sweet coffee. :)

Jody and Christine came, brought us a big check, and took our car.  I was sad to give up a car that I loved so much, but selling it to some good friends seemed to cushion the blow.

Christine also made me so happy by offering to take some family pictures of us, something that I have wanted her to do for about 5 years since I first saw her in action, but we have never been able to pull off.  She helped me go through the basement as well, making me pull the trigger on a few things that I had been putting off, and this time Jody rode with Chris for a run to the thrift store and to drop off another load of trash.  And our babies, Charles and Hannah, played.  Their due dates were only 1 day apart, but their birthdays are 2 weeks apart, and we couldn't stop comparing them to one another despite ourselves.  

Then Mom and Chelsea came for a week and helped us finish up the packing.  

We cleaned the basement all the way out, cleaned out tubs and refilled them, labeling the contents and then added ship or store in large black marker.  

We packed clothes and vacuumed out the air, removed everything from closets and drawers, removed nails from walls and curtains from rods.  We emptied every cupboard, basket and drawer, and then did it again at the end of the week with those large piles of random things.

We also had some fun.  The mall, the museum, sprinklers and water guns, we built a bear and got serenaded by Jayce.

Now it is the last week of the month, the week that we move.  

I'm hoping that it goes as smoothly as possible as we attempt to tie up the loose ends, keep the kids happy and under control, and nurse our sentimental souls.